Tommy's Math Problem
by celrock
Summary: When Tommy has trouble with learning his multiplication tables, and Zack is hired by their third grade teacher Miss Jellybean to tutor him, can Tommy ace the big math test and raise his grade from an F to an A or B?


Tommy's Math Problem

Summary: When Tommy has trouble with learning his multiplication tables, and Zack is hired by their third grade teacher Miss Jellybean to tutor him, can Tommy ace the big math test and raise his grade from an F to an A or B?

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original Rugrats characters, they're the property of their original creaters. Also Zack has been with the gang since Rugrats and the Gray Plague. It's a year later after Marshal Arts is not for Me, the gang is now in third grade, while Dil is in second grade, and Angelica and Susie are in the fifth grade. And yes, Miss Jellybean is the gang's third grade teacher. Decided to write this story because I remember how much trouble I had with math when I was in elementary school, and, it was in third grade when I discovered just how much I truly loved Tommy Pickles and the Rugrats.

It was a rainy day in early April of the year 2020, and indoor recess was finishing up. 8-year-old Tommy was sitting at his desk, playing a Reptar video game on his WII mini.

"Come on Reptar, let's defeat that alien." Said Tommy as he waved his hands over the tiny WII mini screen, making Reptar do his fighting moves to beat the alien. He sat at his desk, surrounded by other students who he wasn't all that close to. At the beginning of the year, Tommy, Chuckie and Zack all sat next to one another, but Miss Jellybean had to split them up after they continuously talked too much in class. Just then, Miss Jellybean walked into the room as indoor recess was finishing up.

"Tommy Pickles, put that video game away right now please, recess is over." Said Miss Jellybean as she glanced over in Tommy's direction, walking towards her desk.

Tommy sighed, quickly saved his game, and put the WII Mini away in his desk.

"Ok class, it's time for a pop quiz on multiplication tables, to see how everyone did on last night's math homework assignment." Said Miss Jellybean. The class groaned as she handed out the quizzes to the students.

Tommy took out a pencil and grabbed a quiz when the teacher came down his row. Everybody took their quizzes and when they were finished, passed them up to the front of the room. Tommy was the first one to finish. Try as he might, he just, couldn't concentrate or get the answers right. Every night while doing his math homework, Stu or Didi would check it over, and half the time ever since they had started on multiplication problems, Tommy spent extra time, redoing his math assignments because he'd get every problem wrong on the worksheet.

"Time's up, please pass your quizzes to the front of the room." Said Miss Jellybean as the students put down their pencils and handed up their quizzes.

The next day, Miss Jellybean handed the quizzes back to the students. Tommy saw the big fat zero at the top of his paper. That day at lunch, Chuckie and Zack showed Tommy their quizzes. Chuckie got a 90 while Zack had a perfect score, a 100. Of course, Zack was doing calculous by the time the gang was in the first grade, so it was no surprise to anybody that he'd ace a multiplication pop quiz. After lunch, Tommy decided he had enough of these zeros, as this was the fifth or sixth quiz he had failed so had a talk with his teacher.

"Miss Jellybean, why do I keep getting zeros while my friends are getting more or less perfect scores?" Tommy asked.

"Maybe you can answer that question." Replied Miss Jellybean.

Tommy stood there and thought for a minute. It was true, he was struggling with the new math, and wasn't seeking the help he desperately needed, too ashamed to admit he was having a problem.

"I just don't get it. Addition and subtraction in the first and second grade were so easy. Now, we're doing this, multiplication, and I just don't get it!" Tommy snapped.

"Now Tommy, calm down. I think I know just the thing for you." Said Miss Jellybean.

"Yeah? What?" Tommy asked.

"I think it's time I assign you a study buddy. And seeing that Zack has aced every math test and quiz in my class this year, not to mention, he won first prize in the junior math competition contest, and, you and Zack are fairly good friends, I'm going to have Zack be your official math tutor. We have a major math test next week, and I'm afraid if you don't pass with at least a B, you're going to fail math this quarter." Said Miss Jellybean.

Just then, the rest of the class walked in from recess, as Tommy skipped recess to talk with Miss Jellybean. Zack overheard the conversation.

"I'd be happy to tutor Tommy. How about it old pal and adventure twin, we'll meet at your house after school?" Zack asked.

Tommy nodded. Sure they've been the adventure twins since they were toddlers, and Zack earned his infamous title when he filled Tommy's shoes and took their friends on an expedition across Cynthia Land when Tommy was painfully ill with that dreadful Foot in Mouth Disease, but that happened nearly six years ago. At this very moment, Tommy didn't feel like Zack's twin, but rather, a reject. No matter though, he was willing to give tutoring a try, and so that afternoon after school, the lessons, began.

Tommy and Dil arrived home from school in time to ccatch the Reptar TV show. They sat down in front of the TV and ate their cookies and milk, Tommy completely forgetting about his tutoring session with Zack. At some point during the Reptar TV show, the doorbell buzzer sounded. It was then when Tommy remembered who it might be, so he went and answered the door. Sure enough, Zack was standing there.

"Hey Tommy, ready to get to work?" Zack asked.

"Can we watch the end of the Reptar show? Then we'll get to work." Replied Tommy.

"Sounds fair enough." Said Zack, as the two of them headed into the living room, and caught the end of the show.

Afterwards, they went into the kitchen, where they sat down at the table to find a huge bowl of apples in the center. Stu had picked them with his latest and greatest invention, The Apple Picker 2001, not to be confused with his original invention, the Apple Picker 2000, which he had invented seven years ago, not long before the gang was in that fall parade and went off to Paris. Didi was planning to use the apples Stu picked to make apple pie for dessert that night, but for now, they sat there in a bowl on the table.

"Tommy, let's get out the worksheet Miss Jellybean assigned us for tonight's math homework." Said Zack, as he reached into his nap sack and pulled out the worksheet. Tommy, who still had a Reptar backpack, only now it was bigger since he was bigger from when he was in preschool and kindergarten, went and pulled out his homework and set it down on the table.

The two of them took a look at the first problem. Two times two.

"Ok Tommy, what's two times two?" Zack asked.

"Four?" Tommy replied.

"That's correct! But do you know why the answer is four?" Zack asked.

Tommy nodded. Just then, Zack took some apples out of the bowl.

"Why did you do that? Those apples are not for eating. They're for mom to make apple pie tonight." Said Tommy.

"Oh we're not going to eat the apples, we're using them as a learning aid." Said Zack.

"We are?" Tommy asked.

"Yep. I'm going to teach you your multiplication tables the same way my Aunt Celeste taught me back when I was in preschool and kindergarten." Zack replied.

Because Zack's Aunt Celeste was blind, whenever she could, she would teach things in a different way, in more or less, a tangible manner. Zack put four apples on the table and then began his explination.

"There are two rows of two apples. Therefore, two times two equals four." Zack explained, counting the rows of apples and how many were in each row.

"Now, let's see if you can figure out the next problem. What's two times three?" Zack asked Tommy.

Tommy reached up and took some more apples out of the bowl, and arranged them on the table.

"Two rows with three apples in each row." Tommy said to himself, as he arranged the apples into two rows with three apples in each row. He counted up the apples in each row.

"Six! Two times three is six!" Tommy said happily.

"Very good! So, don't move your rows. What do you think two times seven is? Keep adding to the rows and counting." Said Zack.

Tommy added several more apples to his pile.

"Two rows with seven apples." Tommy said to himself as he made the rows on the table.

"Two times seven equals fourteen!" Tommy said excitedly, as he got the answer.

"Very good tommy! I think you're starting to get it!" Said Zack.

"Yeah! I think I am!" Replied Tommy.

They continued to work out the rest of the problems on the worksheet, using the apples, and when Tommy came up with the correct answer, he wrote it down next to that problem on his worksheet. Before they knew it, an hour had passed and it was time for Zack to head home, as he had ridden over to Tommy's house from his apartment on his bike and needed to get home before it got dark.

Zack continued to work with Tommy after school and on the weekends. Finally, it was the night before their big major math test. It was taking place on a Friday, so it was Thursday night at this time. By this time, they were using a combination of the apples and working out the problems on paper to solve them, as Tommy's mom kept extra apples around just to use for math homework, since Zack explained to her that it seemed to be helping him understand the problems by working them out in this method.

"Ok Tommy, what's five times four?" Zack asked.

Tommy reached up for the apples, but this time, Zack stopped him.

"No Tommy, you need to act like this is the real test. You won't have the apples to use in the classroom." Zack added.

Tommy sat there for a moment, imagining the apples in his head.

"Five rows of four apples." Tommy thought to himself, as he counted the imaginary apples in his head.

"Five times four is twenty!" Said Tommy with excitement and confidence.

"Very good! See? You can do this! Just use those apple images in your mind, and I have a pretty safe bet you'll do just great on tomorrow's math test." Said Zack, closing his math book and picking up his stuff, as he got ready to head home.

It was the day of the big math test. Tommy sat there at his desk, staring down at his paper. The room was silent as pencils worked their way on the other students tests. As Tommy worked out each math problem, he imagined those red apples on top of his piece of paper. Finally, he got to the last problem. Six times four.

"Four rows of six apples." Tommy thought to himself, as he imagined the rows in his head.

"Six times four equals twenty-four." Tommy thought to himself, as he wrote 24 next to the last problem on the test paper. This time, he was one of the last ones to finish his test, but he didn't care. He wanted so badly to pass his math test, and was hoping with all of his might that he passed.

"Time's up class, please pass your tests up to the front of the room." Said Miss Jellybean, as Tommy passed his test up to the front of the room.

The next day, Tommy, Chuckie and Zack were sitting outside the Okanawan Karate school, waiting for Didi to pick them up. It just so happens that after seeing how much Chuckie and Zack were enjoying Karate last year, over the summer in between second and third grade, Tommy started taking Karate too, and found he enjoyed it too. Chuckie now had his green belt, Zack had his yellow belt with green tips, and Tommy had a yellow belt.

"So Tommy, how do you think you did on that math test yesterday?" Chuckie asked.

"I won't know until Monday, but I have no doubt I passed." Tommy replied with a grin. Just then, Didi pulled up in front of the dojo, the three boys hopped in the car and headed to Burger Queen and Buster's arcade, for an afternoon of lunch and video game fun.

Monday rolled around. It was now, the moment of truth. How did Tommy do on that math test?

"I'm handing back Friday's math tests." Said Miss Jellybean, as she handed the tests back to the students.

"And I have to say, I'm very pleased with the results! You all seem to more or less, know your multiplication tables!" Continued Miss Jellybean happily.

Tommy took a look at his paper and got really excited when he saw the grade at the top. He made a 100 on the test! He was so excited, he took the test paper out with him to morning recess to show everyone. Not only could he show Chuckie and Zack at recess, but he'd also be able to show Kimi, Phil and Lil too, since they were sadly, not in the same class with Tommy, Chuckie and Zack this year, so while at school, they only saw one another at morning and lunch recess, and during lunch.

"Guess what guys, I passed!" Said Tommy excitedly, waving the paper around showing off his 100.

"That's wonderful Tommy." Said Chuckie.

"Yeah Tommy way to go!" Said Kimi, Phil and Lil in unison.

"And I have to say thank you to Zack, for helping me to finally understand this multiplication stuff, and helping me to see that I could do this." Said Tommy.

"No problem Tommy, I'm happy to help out my best friend and adventure twin at anytime." Replied Zack with a smile, as he tossed a red rubber playground ball to Tommy.

The gang had fun in the grass, tossing that ball to one another, as they celebrated Tommy's accomplishment.

The End

Author's Note: I hope you all enjoyed that story. And if you have trouble with your multiplication tables, give the method Zack used with Tommy a try, I actually played out that method in my head when coming up with this story, and, it really does work! I can't remember if I really used that method with the apples back when I was in the third grade to learn my multiplication tables, as that was nearly twenty years ago at the time of writing up this story, as I was in the third grade in the 1994, 1995 school year, but just the same, I loved the idea I had, and, should anybody use it for real, I hope it helps you too. Hope you enjoyed the story, and, I'll be back with more rugrats stories, coming soon! And pretty soon, we'll be getting closer to around the time of when the AGU series existed, though we'll be skipping over the main run of AGU, and, well, you'll just have to see what I have in mind as we continue to explore the rugrats lives. Take care rugrats fans, and, I'll be back sometime soon.


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